For those of my generation, a great loss (and before Ghost Busters III).
(http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02833/ramis_2833084b.jpg)
Ghostbusters star Harold Ramis dies aged 69 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/26327020).
Harold Ramis: Ghostbusters' Dr Egon Spengler was comedy's GrandDude (http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2014/feb/24/harold-ramis-ghostbusters-caddyshack-knocked-up?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2).
Harold Ramis: Dan Aykroyd and others share their memories (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/24/dan-aykroyd-harold-ramis-twitter?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2).
Yeah man, this is a bummer.
He was a good man, and thurrah.
GrandDude, now that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2014/feb/24/harold-ramis-ghostbusters-caddyshack-knocked-up (http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2014/feb/24/harold-ramis-ghostbusters-caddyshack-knocked-up)
A great Dude indeed.
The man who gave us Animal House amongst others.
RIPD
DB's head is bowed. R.I.D.P. :'(
This is one of my favorite quotes ever. Ramis was asked to comment on the suicide of his friend and colleague Douglas Kenney (Stork in Animal House, co-writer of Animal House, producer and co-writer of Caddyshack) in 1980:
"Doug probably fell while he was looking for a place to jump."
My favorite line by Ramis is:
"It's okay, man. If there's one thing I know, it's how to drive when I'm stoned. It's like you know your perspective's fucked so you just gotta let your hands work the controls as if you're straight." - from Heavy Metal
I just read that Bill Murray's brother, Brian Doyle-Murray, helped broker a truce between Ramis and Murray right before his death.
I think Brian Doyle-Murray may qualify for an honorary Dudeship.
Wow this is the bummer of bummers. Just recently watched a documentary on Caddyshack. He was so funny. Very Dudely indeed.
Ramis was a genius with the distinct talent of guiding an audience through a world inhabited by imbeciles and nincompoops. His work defined (if not created) a sub-genre of comedy from the late 1970s through the early 1990s. I have a little poem I'd like to read in honor of this occasion, if I may.
It's easy to grin
When your ship comes in
And you've got the stock market beat.
But the man worthwhile
Is the man who can smile
When his shorts are too tight in the seat.
Godspeed, sir, godspeed.
Sharing this from facebook.
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t31/q71/s720x720/1511725_10151999026180765_707358696_o.jpg)
(https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151999026180765&set=a.10150283049180765.337826.99391385764&type=1&relevant_count=1)
In an alternate reality, in another dimension, I got to work side by side the legendary Egon Spengler. Egon, myself and the other Ghostbusters had to defeat a massive, stories tall incarnation of an ancient spirit with diety-like power. Upon its defeat, it roared: "Nooooo! I'm a god!"
With the classic determined, nerdy smirk that only Ramis can produce, and without missing a beat, Egon shouts back my favorite line of all time:
Egon, "We eat gods for breakfast!"
Ray, "We eat gods for breakfast?"
Egon, "Too much?"
Ray, "No... I liked it!"
True, this was all just a video game. But at that moment it felt just as real to me as if I were physically standing there next to them. It also helped that Ramis and Ackroyd wrote the game, the dialog, performed the mo-cap and the voice acting. In fact all the original actors reprised their roles for the game. It truly was like getting to live out a childhood fantasy, and will be one of my favorite gaming (and nerding-out) moments of all time.
RIP Harold Ramis. Have a twinkie the size of New York on me!